Somewhere Along The Way
by HeartofInk22500
Summary: Jamie has grown old—had children, even grandchildren! And slowly but surely the world is dying down on belief again. Jack finds himself determined to make Jamie's granddaughter believe—and in the midst of it all Pitch is rising, with a more specific goal... making Jack pay. (There will be violence in here, just so you know. Rated T just to be safe) *DISCONTINUED**POSSIBLE REWRITE*
1. Chapter 1

**_I got bored. Had time to kill__— _but I'm not posting anything for Because of Her for a while, because I want to have a lot done for you guys when I do post. So... onto my new obsession for now_— R_ise of the Guardians!**

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_Somewhere __along the way— they stopped believing. The wave of children who once believed— those children had children of their own. And those children had children. And somewhere along the way, the magic was lost. The belief was slowly fading. And somewhere along the way— fear was reborn...  
_

Her grandfather was a loon.

He had to be.

Here he was fascinating her younger cousin with stories of snow days and egg hunts and warding off nightmares and something about a man made of golden sand. Alice wasn't even sure anymore, she had resided into the comfort of her book halfway through his story. All this talk of a Russian Santa and the six-foot tall Easter Bunny and _Jack Frost_ of all things was ridiculous.

When her grandfather got to the part about horses made of black sand and bunnies made of snow—Alice left the realism of her novel and turned to him. "Grandpa Jamie," she whined, "Jack Frost is _just_ an expression." Thomas seemed horrified—pressing his finger against his lips and making a _shhh_ sound—which of course warbled and whistled through the gap of his recently lost front tooth. "Don't thay that!" he pouted, "Jack Frotht might not bring winter if you don't believe!" Alice placed her hands up and retreated back to her book, as Jamie just smiled warmly, "He'll always bring winter, Thomas, don't worry."

Deep down, however, Jamie himself _was_ worried. Now that he had turned 95 years old not too far back, and had hair as white as Jack Frost, he worried for the Guardians, as he was slowly realizing that the newer generation wasn't very strong on believing. He and his friends—some of which who had already passed of old age—all had met more than a few kids with the same reactions as Alice. _The Tooth Fairy is a myth. There's no such thing as Santa. The Easter Bunny is nothing but a hoax. The Sandman isn't real._

_Jack Frost is just an expression!_

Yes, deep down Jamie feared for his immortal friends—but after 87 years, he was sure nothing truly bad would happen. As long as at least one person believed, they would be okay. That he knew for a fact.

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Crippled would be the right term. Or maybe devastated? Or, perhaps there was no possible word to describe the heavy feeling in Jack's chest when he realized just how close to the end Jamie was. It had been a blast—the snowball fights and sledding and skating and snowman contests and building igloos—and now his first believer was at the end of the rope. It destroyed Jack inside—watching Jamie travel with a cane— and his hair! It was as white as his own! The Winter Spirit didn't want to imagine Jamie being gone.

Even when Jamie became too old to play with him in the snow—the believer urged his children to enjoy the snow day in his stead. Jack journeyed into the memories for a moment—and he had to admit, when Jamie became a father of two sons and a daughter, the frostbite nearly had a conniption. It was shocking and amazing and frightening and beautiful at the same time—Jack felt the pride an older brother would. Then he had _grandchildren_ as well. His daughter adopted a boy named Thomas and the older son married a woman with gingery hair—like the color of a carrot. No surprise when his granddaughter took after those same carrot-colored locks.

Jack couldn't help but smile in spite of himself—Jamie would be gone soon, but that still didn't stop Jack from having wonderful moments with him in the past. Jamie gave him a purpose—and Jack wouldn't let that go even if Jamie wasn't there.

Speaking of Jamie…

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"But she _ith_ real! She_ hath_ to be!" Thomas whined. He wouldn't let it go—Alice didn't believe in Jack Frost, or Santa, and she had mumbled something about the _Tooth Fairy_ being a lie! Thomas knew for a fact the tooth fairy was real! He got a quarter for each one of his baby teeth, just like he would get one tonight!

"She's not. None of them are."

Alice tied off her loose ginger tresses back into the braid they had so sloppily come out of. She was tucking Thomas into bed, and he would _not_ stop insisting these so called Guardians of Children were real.

Alice hadn't believed in them for a while—and being that she was 15 she wasn't going to start believing now.

"Yeth they are!"

"Tommy," she groaned, "Just put the stupid tooth under your pillow, please." Realizing the bitterness she expressed, Alice quickly said something different, "If you don't hurry up, I can't read you a bedtime story."

That got the 6 year old boy to jam his baby tooth into the pillowcase and lay down. He loved the bedtime stories—they prompted good ideas for his dreams. The dreams he knew the Sandman had to be behind.

"What book would you like?"

Thomas smiled softly, "Frothtbite."

Alice let out a moan of frustration, but nevertheless grabbed the book from the shelf. She briefly inspected the cover, her eyes scanning across the name of the author— being someone named _Jackson Overland Frost_ and she cringed. Fitting alias, she assumed. It wasn't until she gave the book attention that she realized it was _long_. "Thomas," she mumbled, "This is at least 30 chapters…"

"Pleathe?"

Alice sighed, and with that she began to read…

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Jack waved through Jamie's window, the elderly man quickly smiled and nodded—a signal the frostbite had recognized for when Jamie wanted him in but didn't want to get up. Jack pried the window open, and slipped through into the house.

"Hey, kiddo," Jack grinned. Jamie beamed, "How've you been, Jack?" The Winter Sprite just shrugged, "Preparing for winter, considering giving the kids a couple extra snow days… what do you think?"

"Does that mean I can assure Thomas that winter _will_ come?" Jamie gave Jack a soft smile, his eyes tired. Jack tried to ignore the paleness in his old friend's face as he chuckled, "Yeah. Why was he even worried? Jack Frost_ always_ comes through."

"Because…," Jamie's eyes shifted, "… Alice said you were just an expression."

Jack winced playfully, "Ouch." Okay, so maybe not as playfully as he wanted. It hurt—knowing that Jamie's own grandchild thought of him as a myth. Well, _one_ of Jamie's grandchildren. And regardless there were plenty of other children who believed, so he didn't fear of being forgotten.

"It's alright though," Jamie tried to sound happy, "She went and tucked Thomas in and she's going to read him a story—no doubt he'll choose yours."

"That old thing?" Jack laughed, "I almost forgot!"

Of course he hadn't actually forgot. It was when Jamie was in high school that he wrote a short essay on his experiences with Jack Frost—and when the teacher approved his vivid _imagination, _Jamie asked Jack if he could write a novel based on his life. Jack didn't exactly mind—the book would be proof that the Guardians were _real,_ although he was almost shocked when Jamie put _Jackson Overland Frost_ as the author's name. He remembered hugging Jamie and bursting out in happy tears and all the other joy that followed.

"Thomas has been wanting to read it for a while," Jamie grinned, "I think he really adores you. The other Guardians too—he's been fussing over trying to catch the Tooth Fairy all day."

"Little one lost a tooth?"

Jamie nodded, and Jack just laughed, "I'll have to tell Tooth to make this a personal visit, then."

The frostbite smiled, before heading back for the window. "Hey, Jamie…," he whispered. The man looked at him, "Yeah?"

"You're an amazing friend, you know that?"

Jamie just smiled weakly—he knew what was on the Guardian's mind but he wasn't sure how to ease it, "Same for you, Jack…"

The Guardian smiled before taking off in the night.

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He felt weak.

Alert, but weak.

The darkness swiveled around him as if pestering him to get up—yet he wouldn't. He needed to bide his time, not waste energy on petty thing like_ getting up_.

Not yet, anyway.

It had been 87 years, and Pitch was still waiting. He needed to wait for the right time to strike—wait for his perfect opportunity. Soon, but not yet.

His yellow irises scanned the room—and he continued to wait.

When he was free—when he was at his full potential and when no one suspected his arrival, he assured himself he had one task that was most important. One task that he needed the elements of strength and surprise to be at its max.

One task…

_Kill that damned frostbite._


	2. Chapter 2

**_So, I think I can update this story every Sunday/Monday, depending on which is more convenient. As far as my other story—I should have the next chapter out on Friday, well, I hope I'm able to, 'cause it's my only other free day. So… yeah._**

**_Anyway, thanks to Justrockzyxxx for the review, it means so much!_**

**_Enjoy~_**

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Alice closed the book softly—trying not to stir her cousin back awake. There was no surprise that Thomas drifted into slumber halfway into the second chapter. The entire time he had his eyes screwed shut trying to fall asleep faster—he wanted the Tooth Fairy to come.

The Tooth Fairy… Alice truthfully had always wondered _why_ there was a fairy who collected children's _teeth_ of all things. Gross, fallen out baby teeth—_and she would give you a quarter for it_. Alice bit back a giggle—strange things, these myths. Nevertheless, she placed a bookmark on the page she left off. No doubt the next possible chance Thomas would want to hear what happened next, since she was sure he drifted off around the part where Jack Frost got shoved into a burlap sack by yetis.

_None of it made sense._

The girl stood up from the edge of the bed, slipping away into her own room. The green and white colors of the bedroom were dull in the moonlit space—which usually helped lull her to sleep. Because despite what Thomas and her Grandpa Jamie said—there was no such thing as a Sandman either. Alice was fairly certain that her grandfather only told these stories to Thomas to keep him full of hope and wonder. To make sure he had good dreams and pleasant memories. And overall—just for the fun of it. Yet the more she listened, the more she noticed it was as if he actually believed as well.

Even her Great Aunt Sophie talked as though they were real—except she mostly fixated her tales around the Easter Bunny.

_They both were really, really childish_.

That's all it was—childish stories. She was sure of it. So as the teen slipped under her covers and laid down, she stared at the walls—slowly lulling herself to sleep. She was out of it before the golden sand even slipped through her window…

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Tooth fluttered past houses, humming softly to herself. Jack had told her there was one stop she might have wanted to _personally_ visit, and although she was skeptical at first, all it took was the frostbite mentioning the kid lived in Burgess for her to realize he meant Jamie's grandson. The fact that he told her to say hello to the last light as well proved it.

She couldn't resist the smile tugging at her lips, she was more than happy to swing by Jamie's house, but deep down she knew why Jack was so desperate for everyone to see him again.

_He was going to pass soon._

The smile fell—it really had been more than a few years, hadn't it? Tooth counted for a moment—alright, 87 years to be exact. She had collected Jamie's last baby tooth when he was 10, and fast forward she was gathering his _grandchildren's_ teeth now. _Grandchildren!_

But that of course meant he was a grandfather… and no question that he was soon going to leave their world. It was _sad_.

Finally though, she arrived at the window of the boy's room. The 6 year old was fast asleep, golden sand swirling above his head in the shape of a spaceship. Her smile returned—he looked so peaceful. Ever so slowly, she slipped into his room, gently raising his head as she dug around the pillow for his tooth. She bubbled once she saw it—it was so white! No cavities or chips and _wow did he floss!_ Tooth had her little silent celebration at the perfection of Thomas's incisor, before staring at the boy again with a warm grin. She just as swiftly placed a quarter under his pillow and laid his head back down, brushing his bangs from his face. _She missed seeing children like this._

"Sleep well," she murmured in a light, airy voice, and then turned to his bedroom door. If Jamie really was at the end of the line, she wanted to talk with him… all she had to do was find his room first.

She flittered down the hall, searching for the boy who was their last hope 87 years ago. Who was _their guardian._ The thought was actually a bit amusing—they were the Guardians of Children, and that child was like the Guardian of the Guardians. She saw the door at the end of the hall, and ever so slowly she cracked it open. Jamie was already asleep, and Tooth's frown returned. She studied his features—the wrinkles on his face and hands and his white, messy hair. The dark circles under his closed eyes and how he appeared to be skin and bone. _He looked so worn out_. She sighed softly, tears pricking her eyes. She was going to miss him!

She leaned down and placed a motherly kiss on the man's forehead, holding back her tears until she got outside. She slipped away through Jamie's window, and flew off.

Tooth congratulated herself for managing to hang onto her tears until she was out of Burgess.

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"Jack, what is wrong?"

The frostbite turned to North, tears evident in his icy blue eyes. The boy wiped his sleeve across his face, drying his cheeks before speaking, "Nothing, North. It's nothing…"

"Is something if you are crying," the guardian stated. Jack just looked away—he _hated_ crying in front of others. He refused to—the only tears they ever saw from him were when he was too happy for words to describe. But tears when he was sad? _No, he would never let them fall._

"… Jamie."

North's brow furrowed, he knew where it was going, "Need to talk?"

"No."

"Cannot suffer in silence, Jack."

The teen croaked out, "Yes, I can. I did for 300 years and I can do it now, too."

"Let me rephrase—don't _have_ to suffer in silence," North corrected, putting his hand on Jack's shoulder. To his surprise and relief, the boy didn't jerk away like usual. He didn't speak, but he didn't jerk away either. Everyone knew just how hard it would be—knowing that Jack's first believer _ever_, the first person to acknowledge him after 300 years was going to leave for good. It was _brutal_.

"I'll be fine…," Jack whispered, drying his face off again. The damn tears wouldn't stop falling! North gave the boy a pat on the back, making Jack sway forward from the unintentional force. After a few moment of silence, the frostbite stood up, "I'm gonna go give some places an early-winter dusting… I'll be back soon."

North debated whether to say something to him before he left, but by the time he thought of the words, Jack was gone…

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Jack was silent, scattering swarms of flurries around the forest he called home. It wasn't exactly the _light dusting_ he had assured North he would do—but it made him feel better. It made him feel content and safe, and at the moment he needed that. Jamie was dying—and so was Jack. While it was true that the frostbite couldn't physically die, it didn't stop the feeling in his chest like his heart had stopped. Jamie was like his little brother… and then his older brother. But a brother to him nonetheless, and Jack did _not_ want to live an eternity without his brother.

He watched the snow fall, before looking towards the population of Burgess. In a soft call to the wind, he was flying overtop the houses, the snow falling behind him. It was the start of December—and while they said it would be cold, but not snowy, Jack had other plans.

_One more snow day_.

He wanted to give Jamie one more snow day, even if his first believer couldn't play in the snow, it felt right. It felt like something that needed to be done. Jamie was leaving soon, and Jack was hoping… no, _determined _to make the most of what was left.

The city was covered in a thick blanket of snow when he was done—and despite everything, Jack smiled.

He smiled for Jamie.


	3. Chapter 3

**_I wasn't planning on posting until next Sunday, but I had it done now, so I figured why not? This chapter has the scene that's on the cover image, so… yeah._**

**_I hope this story is okay so far—part of me worries that I'm either too boring or too OOC in my works. So, if you have any questions/comments/suggestions, I have no objections to hearing them! And if I did something so completely OOC, please let me know! I want to learn from my mistakes!_**

**_Anyway, thanks to Justrockzyxxx for the lovely review, it always makes my day!_**

**_Anyway, enjoy!_**

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"Alithe! Look! I told you she'th real!"

The redhead turned to her cousin, staring blankly at the shiny, silver quarter in his hands. She raised a brow, "Tooth Fairy came after all then, huh?" She was obviously uninterested, but played along anyway.

Thomas nodded vigorously, his grin spreading from ear to ear. She didn't believe—she knew the Tooth Fairy had to be a hoax— but she didn't want to ruin his excitement. Alice faked a smile and turned back to the paper in front of her—school was cancelled for a _snow day_, but she was still going to work on her book report. The 6 year old brushed his black bangs from his face, looking up at her, "Can we go and play in the thnow?"

"I need to do this report, Tommy."

"Pleathe?"

"Can't you play with Cora or Ben?"

"Yeah."

"Then play with them, Thomas."

"But you _never_ play in the thnow!"

Alice let out a moan of frustration, "This report is _really_ crucial to my grade, Thomas. Maybe next time." The boy pouted for a moment, his eyes never leaving his cousin. Alice wrote down a few more words onto her paper, "The report is due soon."

"It thaid it wathn't do for another week," he retaliated, continuing to stare her down.

"Still," she protested, scribbling down the next sentence. Alice kept going before the staring became too awkward and finally she caved. "No more than 15 minutes, okay?"

The heated glare fled from his green eyes and he bubbled, "Thankth Alithe!" He threw his arms around her and practically flung himself down the hall to change out of his pajamas. The teen groaned, reaching for her coat and scarf—she _hated _snow.

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Jack watched the new generation of Burgess run outside—he smiled as snowballs were flying almost instantly. Kids enjoyed his snow—and that made him feel much better. Snowmen were being started and the youngest kids were already busy making snow angels—even a group of boys started building snow forts for a proclaimed snowball _war_. Jack grinned—almost like Jamie and his friends used to do. The time when they invited him to join in, he was all too happy to agree. He just didn't expect the teams to be all the kids against _him_, but he could conjure snow from thin air, so he figured it was fair. Besides, that just made it all the more interesting.

He fought to keep the smile on his lips— _don't be sad it's over, be glad it happened._

Jack scoured through his memories for something,_ anything_, other than Jamie's inevitable end to think about. _The snowball fights. Ice skating on the lake. Jamie's wedding. When Jamie first saw him. That time when they—_

"Thomas, slow down!"

He turned to see Jamie's grandchildren running from the house. Well, one of them running—the teen girl was trying to stay to the shoveled path and catch up to her cousin at the same time, who was bolting down the snow-covered yard. The frostbite smiled, crossing his arms—wow, they really _had_ grown up. Suddenly, he heard a loud gasp and two arms threw themselves around him.

"I told you, Alithe! I told you he wath real! Jutht like Grandpa Jamie thaid!"

Jack blinked for a moment, trying to process the situation— and then grinned down at Thomas, ruffling the boy's messy black hair. "Hey, kiddo!"

The boy giggled and released Jack from the hug, bouncing up and down on his feet. Jack could practically_ see_ the boy's excitement—it was amazing.

"Thomas, what are you doing?"

Jack turned to the redhead, waving at her. The girl merely seemed to look through him. "Hugging Jack Frotht!" Thomas beamed. The girl made a face, "There's no one there, Thomas."

Jack's smile fell—_he forgot he was just an expression to Alice._

"Yeth there ith!"

"No Thomas, there isn't."

Jack just looked at the 6 year old, "Don't let it bother you, if she doesn't want to play, her loss." "Okay, Jack," Thomas giggled, not noticing or not caring when Alice rolled her eyes and trudged back to the front porch. She called over her shoulder, "There's no such thing as Jack Frost!" Jack made a face, taking it as an insult, "No such thing as Jack Frost, huh?" He couldn't resist—he tapped at the cleared off sidewalk with his staff and watched as the ice crawled its way towards her feet…

She slipped and landed with a _thud_ on the newly iced path, emitting a small whine as she stood up and hurried to the steps . Thomas giggled again, as Jack just grinned, "Couldn't have been me who did that, then, you klutz!"

Alice didn't even hear him—he knew she wouldn't, but Jack felt satisfied as the pink blush crept on her cheeks. She muttered under her breath and rubbed the spot she landed on, trying to hide her face. _Teach her to say I'm not real._

He was brought out of his thoughts when a little voice asked—

"Can we build a fort?"

Thomas was staring up at Jack, a wide grin on his face, the gap in his teeth evident. The Guardian of Fun smiled, "Sure." With that the two of them rushed off to find a good spot away from the snowball fights.

Alice watch Thomas bolt away—she was unfazed at first, still a bit miffed about having slipped. In an instant she jerked upright and scampered after him, knowing she had to watch him.

Running off with his imaginary Jack Frost… _this was definitely gonna be a bad day._

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North trailed throughout the workshop, watching the yetis as a way to distract his worry. There were 18 days left until Christmas—everything was going well. Most of the yetis were done with the toys, and were focusing on packaging them up nicely—while the rest were completing the finishing touches on some projects. No, Christmas was not anything to worry about this year—it was _Jack_ that held his concern.

The frostbite would tend to hang out around the North Pole if he was upset—as it seemed to be perfect for him. He wouldn't talk to anyone, but he would just walk around the workshop and observe—and maybe freeze a few elves—and he would feel better.

North assumed it was because there were a lot of people there so he didn't feel abandoned, but everyone was too busy to pry into his personal feelings—the perfect way to be alone without actually being alone.

So when Jack said he'd be back soon last night after being obviously upset, and didn't return so far, North was_ worried_. He decided that when Jack finally showed up, he would try to get him to talk it out.

A crash disrupted his thoughts.

The Russian man groaned, "Phil! Told you to be careful with that!"

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Alice checked her watch—it had been _much_ more than 15 minutes. Thomas hadn't gone too far from the house, but the problem was he wouldn't go _back inside. _"Thomas," she called out, "c'mon, we need to head home now!"

"You can go ahead!"

The redhead whined, "I can't leave—someone needs to watch you, remember!"

"Jack Frotht is watching me!"

"Jack Frost _isn't_ real!"

Alice couldn't hold back the shriek as a snowball hit her in the face, to which she promptly wiped the slush off her cheeks. "Nithe one, Jack!" the boy cheered, giving the air a high-five. Alice didn't mind his imaginary friends, but did he _seriously_ think she'd believe that snowball wasn't thrown by him?

Before she could scold him, two kids brushed past her and towards her cousin. Despite her exasperation, there was no resisting the smile tugging at her lips as Cora and Ben ambushed Thomas with a large snowball each, and the boy quickly hid behind his fort to return the attack. Thomas briefly popped his head up from the icy wall, "Alithe, wanna play with uth?" He ducked back down when Ben tossed a snowball at him. It had wound up hitting Jack instead, but Alice didn't notice—she figured it just fell apart mid-throw.

"Uh, no thanks," she replied, cupping her hand near her lips to try and be heard over the laughter, "I don't do snowball fights!"

Jack stiffened for a moment—_doesn't do snowball fights?_ That was _not_ acceptable on his watch. Quickly, Jack swung his staff, a rather large flurry of snow flying towards Alice. She was almost knocked backwards, her face practically plastered in frost as she stood absolutely stunned. There was _no one_ she knew of who could manage to through that much snow at once. She took a step back, scanning the area—there was no one to see but the three kids.

Cora was the first to break her out of her momentary shock as she let out a short laugh, "Jack! Why'd you do that to her?"

Quickly, Alice groaned, "Great, you guys too? It was probably the wind knocking snow off of the trees."

"But," Ben interjected, "we saw Jack do it!"

"There's _no_ such thing as Jack Frost… he's just an expression!" Her eyes hardened, "So _please_ give it a rest!"

"You're just jealous that you can't see him!" Thomas whined, sticking his tongue out at her. Alice rolled her eyes and stormed back to the porch, taking wary steps around the icy path as she sat on one of the chairs. She could still see them, but at least she couldn't get hit by anymore of their stray—

She wanted to let out a scream as another snowball smacked her in the face. She gagged at the few flecks that got in her mouth, spitting them out. That did it—she stomped into the house and slammed the door, muttering to herself.

She didn't even stop to note the black sand laced within the snowball.


End file.
